Title: The King in the Window
Author: Adam Gopnik
# of pages: 410

Plot Summary:

Oliver Parker is a twelve-year-old American boy living in Paris, France. As a French tradition, his family celebrates Epiphany with a cake with a key embedded inside. The person whose slice contains the key receives a gold paper crown and becomes "king" - little does his parents' only child know that he becomes more than an Epiphany king.

After being crowned king, Oliver experiences several strange incidents. He later finds out that he has become the King in the Window - ruler of glass and water. As if the sudden notice wasn't already a shock to him, he is told of the centuries-old war between the windows and mirrors. As King, he is responsible for leading the fight against the evil Master of Mirrors who steals the souls of people.

Although Oliver's lack of knowledge regarding his situation leads to unpleasant results in favour of the Master of Mirrors, he begins to understand true thinking, and outwits the Master of Mirrors in the final battle.

Opinion:

Because some of the concepts in The King in the Window were very original, I often had to reread certain passages to comprehend the situation at hand. The characters often use wordplay, and a major part of Oliver's quest was to solve several riddles in order to discover the secret to defeating the mirrors.

Otherwise, though, the plot was very creative. I never thought about wraiths living in windows, or evil soul-stealers lurking in mirrors, before reading Gopnik's novel. I especially admired the concept of the "Way", a world that is the complete opposite of ours. The way the different colours of lies was mentioned was quite interesting, and the analysis of irony and metaphors.

I would certainly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys fantasy novels. Those who seek imaginative stories would be satisfied with Gopnik's work.

Main themes and subjects:

• Epiphany
• Medieval France
• Wordplay
  
• Parallel worlds

Target audience: Preteens and teenagers

Genre: Fantasy

Rating: 4/5

Book review by Fiona T.
* 39 hours so far
Can be published in the Teen Newsletter